Tensions have soared in Indonesia as protests continue in multiple cities, a day after the death of a motorcycle taxi driver hit by a police vehicle during a demonstration over a range of cost-of-living issues.
Protesters marched to the headquarters of the police mobile brigade in the capital Jakarta on Friday, and some attempted to storm the compound. Police used water canons and fired rounds of tear gas to push back the demonstrators, who hurled bottles, rocks and flares at them.
One group of rioters set fire to a five-storey building near the police compound in the Kwitang neighbourhood of central Jakarta, trapping several people inside.
Some students halted their protests to help soldiers and residents rescue those trapped. Other protesters destroyed traffic signs and other infrastructure, causing traffic to come to a standstill in the area.
Clashes between rock-throwing demonstrators and riot police also broke out in other cities across the country, including Surabaya, Solo, Yogyakarta, Medan, Makassar, Manado, Bandung and Manokwari in the easternmost Papua region.
The unrest came after Affan Kurniawan was killed on Thursday, when an armoured police vehicle ran into him outside Indonesia’s House of Representatives as riot police dispersed crowds who had gathered to demand higher wages, lower taxes and the removal of allowances for politicians.
Twenty-one-year-old Kurniawan was reportedly completing a food delivery service order when he was caught in the clashes.
Witnesses told local television that an armoured car from the National Police’s Mobile Brigade unit suddenly sped through the crowd of demonstrators and hit Kurniawan, causing him to fall. Instead of stopping, the car ran over him.
The capital’s police chief, Asep Edi Suheri, confirmed that an armoured police vehicle hit and killed Kurniawan, who worked for ride-sharing services Gojek and Grab.
Rights activists, politicians and riders paid their respects to Kurniawan during his burial, filling a major traffic circle in the heart of Jakarta.
President Prabowo Subianto called for calm, expressed condolences for the death of Kurniawan, and ordered a thorough probe of the incident.
“I am shocked and disappointed by the excessive actions of the officers,” Prabowo said in a video message, adding, “I have ordered a thorough and transparent investigation … and officers involved must be held accountable.”
Test for Prabowo’s presidency
Nationwide protests began on Monday after reports revealed that all 580 lawmakers received a monthly housing allowance of 50 million rupiah ($3,041) in addition to their salaries. The allowance, introduced last year, is almost 10 times the Jakarta minimum wage.
Critics argue the new allowance is not only excessive but also insensitive at a time when most people are grappling with soaring living costs and taxes, and rising unemployment.
Protesters were undeterred by calls for calm from Prabowo, whose presidency nears its one-year anniversary in October.
Abigail Limura, cofounder of the social media platform What Is Up, Indonesia? told Al Jazeera that the protests were a “culmination of months of not only economic but also political frustration all over the country”.
“We are in the middle of a worsening economy, collapsing job market, where thousands have been laid off. And instead of compassion, these people are continually met with indifference and even sometimes tone-deaf and insulting responses,” she said.
Al Jazeera’s Syarina Hasibuan, reporting from Jakarta, said “people feel the government doesn’t want to hear about their situation.”
Usman Hamid, executive director of Amnesty International Indonesia, said protesters were also angry about the long-running issue of police brutality and the heavy-handed response by police this week to demonstrations.
“The case of the motorbike taxi driver is just one of so many cases of excessive use of force by police. There are too many cases across Indonesia, including West Papua,” he told Al Jazeera. “We are constantly receiving credible reports such as use of firearms, arbitrary arrest and detention, torture and also extrajudicial killing.”
